NYT: US Suspends Seizure Of Oil Tanker After Russian Flag Appears On It

The military is waiting for a "green light" from the White House.

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended an operation to seize the under-sanctioned oil tanker Bella 1 after a Russian flag appeared aboard it.

The New York Times reports The New York Times.

American officials said U.S. Coast Guard vessels have been chasing a large oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean for more than 10 days, keeping a distance of about half a mile (about 800 meters).

The military said special forces are fully prepared to seize the ship by force, but are waiting for a "green light" from the White House. The situation was complicated after a Russian flag was carelessly painted on the Bella 1's hull.

According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Coast Guard can seize ships if they are not state-owned or suspected of fraud. When the prosecution began, the US considered the Bella 1 to be a false-flag vessel subject to a court order of arrest.

Experts note that if the vessel had indeed managed to be legally re-registered in Russia, a forceful seizure would be a diplomatic escalation.

Washington fears that Russia could have gone rogue and registered the vessel retroactively without inspections to provoke a conflict. The US is now trying to clarify the tanker's status through diplomatic channels.

The Bella 1 tanker is owned by a Turkish company and has come under US sanctions because it transports Iranian oil for the benefit of terrorist organizations, in particular Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The tanker is part of the so-called "shadow fleet" transporting under-sanctioned oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

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